Expertise

Judith M. Burton

Professional Background

Educational Background

National Diploma in Design, Hornsey College of Art, London; Academic Diploma in Education, University of London; M.Ed., University of Manchester; Ed.D., Harvard University

M.Ed. Thesis: Innovation in Art Education at the Secondary Level in France and England: A Comparative Study.Ed.D. Thesis: Lines, Space, and the Organization of Meaning in Human Figure Drawings Made by Children Eight to Fifteen Years.

Scholarly Interests

Artistic-aesthetic development in children and adolescents. Learning, and transfer of learning in the arts. Instructional methods in the arts. Role of artists in the education of children. Cultural experiences in arts education.

Burton, J.M., (2001). Doctoral Programs at Teachers College. In James Hutchins, (Ed.). In Their Own Words: The Development of Doctoral Study in Art Education. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

As I look back to the beginning of my teaching in a comprehensive secondary school in London, England, I see a set of concerns that have shaped the work I do. I remember only too vividly the young adolescent who said to me in my first year of teaching "I don’t like art and you can’t make me do it!" and another who said "show me how to make my drawing look real."

Over the ensuing years I have struggled to understand how, and for what reason, we can make art education compelling in young people’s education at a time when learning itself becomes problematic. I have also sought to ponder on the difference between my own sensibility as a trained artist and the experiences brought to artistic practice and appreciation by young people of different ages. Where does artistry come from, what is its trajectory and outcome? What is ''real'' anyway and why does this pose such critical questions for human experience, culture and art? Why do some of us feel so profoundly that art is important to life?

Out of such ponderings emerged a belief that we can, and should, educate teachers to reflect thoughtfully on their own artistic insights, be sensitive to and insightful about human development in general and in the arts specifically, and be able to translate the former into supports for the latter. Within this conception of education I also place personal agency and cultural knowledge, for it is imperative that teachers take in hand their own on-going learning and research for through this that they remain alive and young people in schools are empowered to inherit the artistic accumulations of history. Personal agency is also founded in relationship, and a growing sense of professionalism. For if we treat each other with respect and caring, as partners in a complex enterprise, if we practice professional integrity, then art education stands a chance of remaining a humanistic enterprise.

My own teaching reflects these concerns as they have been shaped over the years and as they continue to be shaped—both as a teacher and teacher educator. Each year, through work with an extraordinary vital faculty, wonderful doctoral students in research, and lively minded master students preparing to teach, my own thinking and practice move forward in many and surprising ways!

Dr. Judith M. Burton is Professor and Director of Art & Art Education at Columbia University Teachers College. Before that she was Chair of Art Education at Boston University and taught at the Massachusetts College of Art. Burton received her Ed. D. from Harvard University in 1980. Her research focuses on the artistic-aesthetic development of children, adolescents and young adults and the implications this has for teaching and learning and the culture in general. In 1995 she co-founded the Center for Research in Arts Education at Teachers College, and in 1996 founded the Heritage School – a comprehensive high school featuring the arts – located in Harlem, NYC. Her book Conversations in Art: The Dialectics of Teaching and Learning co-edited with Dr. Mary Hafeli was published in 2012. She is author of numerous articles and chapters and currently has two books in process of publication. She received the Manuel Barkan Award for excellence in research writing, the Lowenfeld Award for lifetime achievement in art education from NAEA and the Ziegfeld Award for services to international art education from INSEA. Dr, Burton is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts in Great Britain, a Distinguished Fellow of the NAEA, and serves as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing, and the South China Normal University, Guangzhou. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Beaconhouse University, Lahore, Pakistan. She is a trustee of the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD, USA and a former trustee of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, USA. She is the NAEA Eisner Lifetime Achievement honoree for 2015, in recognition of her services to the profession both nationally and globally.

My research interests of late center on a number of factors contributing to the artistic development of children, adolescents and young adults in college. Studies have included examination of such questions as: how teachers ''read'' and respond to children''s art works, how children and adolescents themselves respond aesthetically to paintings, how children’s artistic thinking extend to other disciplines and the role of professional artists in stimulating learning in the arts. In essence, my research interests relate to gaining deeper insight into the emergence and continuous development of visual symbolic capacities, and the factors that both promote and inhibit this journey. I am concerned to know more about how acts of artistry shape individual’s relationships with the world, the relationship between artistic thinking and aesthetic responding, and the mediating role played by the culture.

Recent Projects:

Investigation of the relationship of learning in and through the arts to other subject disciplines in K-12 schools.

Investigation of the sources of image making in the art-making practices of early adolescents (funded).

Investigation of the role of professional artists working in schools.

Investigation of the aesthetic responses of children, adolescents and adults to mature works of art: fine and material culture.

A&HA 4080: Artistic development of children

Corequisite A&HA 4281. Required of all candidates seeking New York State art teacher certification (K-12). Recommended for all degree candidates in elementary education. An examination of the role of the senses, emotions, and intellect in artistic development and of the layered integrations they form over time. Discussion of ways in which developmental insights are basic to the design and implementation of exemplary visual arts lessons and offer critical starting points for research. Special fee: $30.

A&HA 4088: Artistic development: Adolescence to adulthood

Corequisite A&HA 4281. An examination of sensory, biological, affective, cognitive, and socio-cultural issues influencing continuing development in the visual arts. Discussion of ways in which developmental insights are basic to designing challenging lessons which enrich growth and learning as well as offering critical starting points for research. Required of all candidates seeking New York State Art Certification K-12. Special fee: $30.

A&HA 4202: Fieldwork in art education

Permission of instructor required. Professional activities in the field under faculty supervision.

A&HA 4902: Research and independent study in art education

Permission of instructor required. Professional activities in the field under faculty supervision.

A&HA 5202: Fieldwork in art education

Permission of instructor required. Professional activities in the field under faculty supervision.

A&HA 5902: Research and independent study in art education

Permission of instructor required. Professional activities in the field under faculty supervision.

A&HA 6021: Supervision and administration: Arts in education

Permission of instructor required. Prerequisite: Substantial teaching and/or arts administration experience. The function of supervision and administration: Effective programs in city, county, and state school systems; inservice education and workshop techniques; school and community relationships; nontraditional settings such as museums, arts councils, etc. Special fee: $15.

A&HA 6202: Advanced fieldwork in art education

Permission of instructor required. Professional activities in the field under faculty supervision.

A&HA 6422: Internship in the supervision and administration of art education

Permission of instructor required. Qualified students work as interns with supervisors or administrators in selected sites. Provision is made for assessment of field-based competencies in fulfillment of program requirements.

A&HA 6972: Research and independent study in art education

Permission of instructor required. Research and independent study under the direction of a faculty member.

A&HA 7502: Dissertation seminar in art education

Two required seminar sessions for doctoral students to help develop or refine topics of inquiry for research. The teaching format is flexible and includes faculty/student presentations, group discussions, and critiques. Section 2 is required of all doctoral students in the program in the semester following successful completion of written certification papers and involves preparation and presentations of dissertation proposal for approval. Sections: (1) Certification preparation, (2) Dissertation proposal preparation.

A&HA 8900: Dissertation advisement in art education

Individual advisement on doctoral dissertations. Fee to equal 3 points at current tuition rate for each term. For requirements, see section in catalog on Continuous Registration for Ed.D. degree.

Centers and Projects

The Center on Chinese Education, Teachers College Columbia University (CoCE) is aimed at contributing to a better understanding of education in China and to educational exchange between the United States and China. It seeks to achieve this mission through three categories of activities: research and development, education and training, as well as outreach and exchange. These activities will draw upon the historically special relationship between Chinese education and Teachers College, the interests and expertise of the faculty at Teachers College, as well as expertise and resources outside of Teachers College. Major funding for the Center's activities is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Ford Foundation.